Claret

Beaujolais – a refuge for impecunious wine lovers

1 November 2025 9:00 am

With burgundy prices going through the roof, enthusiasts are flocking to the neighbouring region, which few have taken seriously until now

Found in a friend’s cellar — the wines of a lifetime

16 December 2017 9:00 am

In longevity, great wine can march with human life. Creating (better still, maintaining) a fine cellar really is a compact…

A Dutch treat from Bordeaux

21 October 2017 9:00 am

In 1995, a young Dutchman completed an MBA. Banking beckoned. An internship was arranged. But Alexander van Beek thought that…

All’s fair in love and Waugh

23 September 2017 9:00 am

I was reminded of Wild West films from boyhood. Then, the beleaguered garrison scanned the horizon; would the US cavalry…

We celebrated a birth with a wine that will last decades

7 November 2015 9:00 am

Good Saturday, 2015, stepping westward. Autumn sunshine: autumn leaves, almost comparable to New England: pumpkins everywhere, very New England. We…

The claret of the gods

20 June 2015 9:00 am

I cannot remember a jollier lunch. There are two brothers, Sebastian and Nicholas Payne, both practical epicureans. They have made…

Claret and blues

6 June 2015 9:00 am

There is a dive near St James’s which could claim to be the epicentre of international reaction. It is also…

The willow and the vine

25 October 2014 9:00 am

A high proportion of wine-lovers also enjoy cricket, and vice versa. This might seem natural. Anyone with an aesthetic temperament…

Three sisterhoods

13 September 2014 9:00 am

The Honourable Society of Odd Bottles has been mentioned in this column before. I can report that the membership is…